Martin Feldstein provides the evidence that a tax reform package similar to the one from 1986 that lowers the marginal tax rates while reducing tax loopholes and other tax expenditures and broadening the tax base could be an important part of a serious deficit reduction plan.

Even Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google and a big Obama supporter, has come to realize the dangers of an over-intrusive government getting involved in trying to regulate innovation.

Mr. Schmidt recounted a dinner in 1995 featuring a talk by Andy Grove, a founder of Intel: "He says, 'This is easy to understand. High tech runs three times faster than normal businesses. And the government runs three times slower than normal businesses. So we have a nine-times gap.' All of my experiences are consistent with Andy Grove's observation."

Mr. Schmidt explained there was only one way to deal with this nine-times gap, which this column hereby christens "Grove's Law of Government." That is "to make sure that the government does not get in the way and slow things down."